Advances in medical technology have improved recovery times and reduced complication rates. One significant advance is image-guided surgery (IGS), which uses various imaging techniques to help plan and execute surgeries. The imaging techniques can include CT scans or MRI scans. The scans can help a surgeon create a good surgery plan to minimize the risks inherent in any surgery. The ability for a surgeon to easily mitigate those risks is paramount to the success of the surgery.
However, because of the inherently pliable nature of human organs and structures, it is sometimes necessary to image the area of interest more than once in order to ensure that a location of interest has not moved from its expected location due to deformation of human tissue or movement of organs. This presents a problem in that generating a full set of images usable in image-guided surgery can take an inordinate amount of time in the middle of surgery while a patient is vulnerable to injury or infection.
Thus, a need still remains for a better way of generating usable images. In view of the ever-growing importance of healthcare, it is increasingly critical that answers be found to these problems. Growing consumer expectations and the diminishing opportunities for meaningful product differentiation in the marketplace make it critical that answers be found for these problems. Additionally, the need to reduce costs, improve efficiencies and performance, and meet competitive pressures adds an even greater urgency to the critical necessity for finding answers to these problems.
Solutions to these problems have been long sought but prior developments have not taught or suggested any solutions and, thus, solutions to these problems have long eluded those skilled in the art.